The Wind dies away.--The Vicinity of the Desert.--The Mistake in the Water-Supply.--The Nights of the Equator.--Dr. Ferguson's Anxieties. --The Situation flatly stated.--Energetic Replies of Kennedy and Joe. --One Night more.
The balloon, having been made fast to a solitary tree, almost completely dried up by the aridity of the region in which it stood, passed the night in perfect quietness; and the travellers were enabled to enjoy a little of the repose which they so greatly needed. The emotions of the day had left sad impressions on their minds.
Toward morning, the sky had resumed its brilliant purity and its heat. The balloon ascended, and, after several ineffectual attempts, fell into a current that, although not rapid, bore them toward the northwest.
"We are not making progress," said the doctor. "If I am not mistaken, we have accomplished nearly half of our journey in ten days; but, at the rate at which we are going, it would take months to end it; and that is all the more vexatious, that we are threatened with a lack of water."
"But we'll find some," said Joe. "It is not to be thought of that we shouldn't discover some river, some stream, or pond, in all this vast extent of country."
"I hope so."
"Now don't you think that it's Joe's cargo of stone that is keeping us back?"
Kennedy asked this question only to tease Joe; and he did so the more willingly because he had, for a moment, shared the poor lad's hallucinations; but, not finding any thing in them, he had fallen back into the attitude of a strong-minded looker-on, and turned the affair off with a laugh.
Joe cast a mournful glance at him; but the doctor made no reply. He was thinking, not without secret terror, probably, of the vast solitudes of Sahara--for there whole weeks sometimes pass without the caravans meeting with a single spring of water. Occupied with these thoughts, he scrutinized every depression of the soil with the closest attention.
These anxieties, and the incidents recently occurring, had not been without their effect upon the spirits of our three travellers. They conversed less, and were more wrapt in their own thoughts.
Joe, clever lad as he was, seemed no longer the same person since his gaze had plunged into that ocean of gold. He kept entirely silent, and gazed incessantly upon the stony fragments heaped up in the car--worthless to-day, but of inestimable value to-morrow.
The appearance of this part of Africa was, moreover, quite calculated to inspire alarm: the desert was gradually expanding around them; not another village was to be seen--not even a collection of a few huts; and vegetation also was disappearing. Barely a few dwarf plants could now be noticed, like those on the wild heaths of Scotland; then came the first tract of grayish sand and flint, with here and there a lentisk tree and brambles. In the midst of this sterility, the rudimental carcass of the Globe appeared in ridges of sharply-jutting rock. These symptoms of a totally dry and barren region greatly disquieted Dr. Ferguson.
It seemed as though no caravan had ever braved this desert expanse, or it would have left visible traces of its encampments, or the whitened bones of men and animals. But nothing of the kind was to be seen, and the aeronauts felt that, ere long, an immensity of sand would cover the whole of this desolate region.
However, there was no going back; they must go forward; and, indeed, the doctor asked for nothing better; he would even have welcomed a tempest to carry him beyond this country. But, there was not a cloud in the sky. At the close of the day, the balloon had not made thirty miles.
If there had been no lack of water! But, there remained only three gallons in all! The doctor put aside one gallon, destined to quench the burning thirst that a heat of ninety degrees rendered intolerable. Two gallons only then remained to supply the cylinder. Hence, they could produce no more than four hundred and eighty cubic feet of gas; yet the cylinder consumed about nine cubic feet per hour. Consequently, they could not keep on longer than fifty-four hours--and all this was a mathematical calculation!
"Fifty-four hours!" said the doctor to his companions. "Therefore, as I am determined not to travel by night, for fear of passing some stream or pool, we have but three days and a half of journeying during which we must find water, at all hazards. I have thought it my duty to make you aware of the real state of the case, as I have retained only one gallon for drinking, and we shall have to put ourselves on the shortest allowance."
"Put us on short allowance, then, doctor," responded Kennedy, "but we must not despair. We have three days left, you say?"
"Yes, my dear Dick!"
"Well, as grieving over the matter won't help us, in three days there will be time enough to decide upon what is to be done; in the meanwhile, let us redouble our vigilance!"
At their evening meal, the water was strictly measured out, and the brandy was increased in quantity in the punch they drank. But they had to be careful with the spirits, the latter being more likely to produce than to quench thirst.
The car rested, during the night, upon an immense plateau, in which there was a deep hollow; its height was scarcely eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. This circumstance gave the doctor some hope, since it recalled to his mind the conjectures of geographers concerning the existence of a vast stretch of water in the centre of Africa. But, if such a lake really existed, the point was to reach it, and not a sign of change was visible in the motionless sky.
To the tranquil night and its starry magnificence succeeded the unchanging daylight and the blazing rays of the sun; and, from the earliest dawn, the temperature became scorching. At five o'clock in the morning, the doctor gave the signal for departure, and, for a considerable time, the balloon remained immovable in the leaden atmosphere.
The doctor might have escaped this intense heat by rising into a higher range, but, in order to do so, he would have had to consume a large quantity of water, a thing that had now become impossible. He contented himself, therefore, with keeping the balloon at one hundred feet from the ground, and, at that elevation, a feeble current drove it toward the western horizon.
The breakfast consisted of a little dried meat and pemmican. By noon, the Victoria had advanced only a few miles.
"We cannot go any faster," said the doctor; "we no longer command--we have to obey."
"Ah! doctor, here is one of those occasions when a propeller would not be a thing to be despised."
"Undoubtedly so, Dick, provided it would not require an expenditure of water to put it in motion, for, in that case, the situation would be precisely the same; moreover, up to this time, nothing practical of the sort has been invented. Balloons are still at that point where ships were before the invention of steam. It took six thousand years to invent propellers and screws; so we have time enough yet."
"Confounded heat!" said Joe, wiping away the perspiration that was streaming from his forehead.
"If we had water, this heat would be of service to us, for it dilates the hydrogen in the balloon, and diminishes the amount required in the spiral, although it is true that, if we were not short of the useful liquid, we should not have to economize it. Ah! that rascally savage who cost us the tank!"*
* The water-tank had been thrown overboard when the native clung to the car.
"You don't regret, though, what you did, doctor?"
"No, Dick, since it was in our power to save that unfortunate missionary from a horrible death. But, the hundred pounds of water that we threw overboard would be very useful to us now; it would be thirteen or fourteen days more of progress secured, or quite enough to carry us over this desert."
"We've made at least half the journey, haven't we?" asked Joe.
"In distance, yes; but in duration, no, should the wind leave us; and it, even now, has a tendency to die away altogether."
"Come, sir," said Joe, again, "we must not complain; we've got along pretty well, thus far, and whatever happens to me, I can't get desperate. We'll find water; mind, I tell you so."
The soil, however, ran lower from mile to mile; the undulations of the gold-bearing mountains they had left died away into the plain, like the last throes of exhausted Nature. Scanty grass took the place of the fine trees of the east; only a few belts of half-scorched herbage still contended against the invasion of the sand, and the huge rocks, that had rolled down from the distant summits, crushed in their fall, had scattered in sharp-edged pebbles which soon again became coarse sand, and finally impalpable dust.
"Here, at last, is Africa, such as you pictured it to yourself, Joe! Was I not right in saying, 'Wait a little?' eh?"
"Well, master, it's all natural, at least--heat and dust. It would be foolish to look for any thing else in such a country. Do you see," he added, laughing, "I had no confidence, for my part, in your forests and your prairies; they were out of reason. What was the use of coming so far to find scenery just like England? Here's the first time that I believe in Africa, and I'm not sorry to get a taste of it."
Toward evening, the doctor calculated that the balloon had not made twenty miles during that whole burning day, and a heated gloom closed in upon it, as soon as the sun had disappeared behind the horizon, which was traced against the sky with all the precision of a straight line.
The next day was Thursday, the 1st of May, but the days followed each other with desperate monotony. Each morning was like the one that had preceded it; noon poured down the same exhaustless rays, and night condensed in its shadow the scattered heat which the ensuing day would again bequeath to the succeeding night. The wind, now scarcely observable, was rather a gasp than a breath, and the morning could almost be foreseen when even that gasp would cease.
The doctor reacted against the gloominess of the situation and retained all the coolness and self-possession of a disciplined heart. With his glass he scrutinized every quarter of the horizon; he saw the last rising ground gradually melting to the dead level, and the last vegetation disappearing, while, before him, stretched the immensity of the desert.
The responsibility resting upon him pressed sorely, but he did not allow his disquiet to appear. Those two men, Dick and Joe, friends of his, both of them, he had induced to come with him almost by the force alone of friendship and of duty. Had he done well in that? Was it not like attempting to tread forbidden paths? Was he not, in this trip, trying to pass the borders of the impossible? Had not the Almighty reserved for later ages the knowledge of this inhospitable continent?
All these thoughts, of the kind that arise in hours of discouragement, succeeded each other and multiplied in his mind, and, by an irresistible association of ideas, the doctor allowed himself to be carried beyond the bounds of logic and of reason. After having established in his own mind what he should NOT have done, the next question was, what he should do, then. Would it be impossible to retrace his steps? Were there not currents higher up that would waft him to less arid regions? Well informed with regard to the countries over which he had passed, he was utterly ignorant of those to come, and thus his conscience speaking aloud to him, he resolved, in his turn, to speak frankly to his two companions. He thereupon laid the whole state of the case plainly before them; he showed them what had been done, and what there was yet to do; at the worst, they could return, or attempt it, at least.--What did they think about it?
"I have no other opinion than that of my excellent master," said Joe; "what he may have to suffer, I can suffer, and that better than he can, perhaps. Where he goes, there I'll go!"
"And you, Kennedy?"
"I, doctor, I'm not the man to despair; no one was less ignorant than I of the perils of the enterprise, but I did not want to see them, from the moment that you determined to brave them. Under present circumstances, my opinion is, that we should persevere--go clear to the end. Besides, to return looks to me quite as perilous as the other course. So onward, then! you may count upon us!"
"Thanks, my gallant friends!" replied the doctor, with much real feeling, "I expected such devotion as this; but I needed these encouraging words. Yet, once again, thank you, from the bottom of my heart!"
And, with this, the three friends warmly grasped each other by the hand.
"Now, hear me!" said the doctor. "According to my solar observations, we are not more than three hundred miles from the Gulf of Guinea; the desert, therefore, cannot extend indefinitely, since the coast is inhabited, and the country has been explored for some distance back into the interior. If needs be, we can direct our course to that quarter, and it seems out of the question that we should not come across some oasis, or some well, where we could replenish our stock of water. But, what we want now, is the wind, for without it we are held here suspended in the air at a dead calm.
"Let us wait with resignation," said the hunter.
But, each of the party, in his turn, vainly scanned the space around him during that long wearisome day. Nothing could be seen to form the basis of a hope. The very last inequalities of the soil disappeared with the setting sun, whose horizontal rays stretched in long lines of fire over the flat immensity. It was the Desert!
Our aeronauts had scarcely gone a distance of fifteen miles, having expended, as on the preceding day, one hundred and thirty-five cubic feet of gas to feed the cylinder, and two pints of water out of the remaining eight had been sacrificed to the demands of intense thirst.
The night passed quietly--too quietly, indeed, but the doctor did not sleep!
风停了——接近沙漠——储备水的分配——赤道上的几夜——弗格森·弗格森的忧虑——真实处境——肯尼迪和乔的有力回答——又一夜
“维多利亚号”的锚勾住一棵孤零零、几乎干枯的树，在安谧中度过了一夜。旅行家们正好可以借此美美地睡上一觉。他们的确需要好好休息一番，前面几天经受的感情波动给他们留下了悲痛的回忆。
快到早上时，天空又是一片明静，整个大地又炙热难忍。气球升到了空中，经过几次毫无结果的尝试，最后终于找到一股微弱的气流，缓缓向西北方向飘去。
“我们不能再往前飞了。”博士说，“如果我没弄错的话，在这10天中我们差不多已经完成了一半的旅程。可是，照我们现在的速度飞下去，我们需要几个月的时间才能完成剩下的旅行。更叫人伤脑筋的是我们在受着缺水的威胁。”
“可是，我们一定能找到水的。”肯尼迪答道，“在这个辽阔的地区，不可能遇不上一条河流、小溪或水塘的。”
“我也希望能遇到。”
“不会是乔的那些货拖延了我们的进程吧？”
肯尼迪这么说成心是想逗弄逗弄这位可爱的小伙子。他有意这么说是因为，当时有一阵子他也曾体验过乔产生的幻觉，不过他丝毫没有流露出来，而是装出了一付神情很镇定的样子。尽管如此，他还是和乔开了个玩笑。乔可怜兮兮地瞅了肯尼迪一眼。但是，博士并没回答。此时，他正暗暗不无恐惧地想着撒哈拉那茫茫无际的荒僻沙漠。那里，一连几个星期，骆驼商队碰不上一口水井解渴的事屡见不鲜，因此，他时时万分留神地面上哪怕最小的洼地。
这种忧虑和最近几天发生的事显然改变了三位旅行家的情绪。他们说话少了，更多的是各想各的心事。
忠于职守的乔自从往那片黄金海洋瞧了一眼后，似乎变成了另一个人。他闭口不语，时时贪婪地注视着堆在吊篮里的那些石头。尽管它们现在毫无价值，但明天就将成为不可估量的财富。
非洲这一带的地貌让人看了心中着实不安：地面逐渐荒凉，再也不见一个村庄，哪怕零零落落的茅屋也没有；草木在退化，勉强存活的几株植物枯萎不振，就像是长在苏格兰的欧石南地里；地面开始出现灰白的沙子和火红的石头，间或有几棵乳香黄连树和一些带刺的灌木；在这片不毛之地中，裸露的岩石棱角分明，异常锋利，形成了一条条脊梁，显现出地壳的原始构架。这些干旱的征兆加重了弗格森博士的心事。
看来，骆驼商队从未到过这个荒僻的地区，要不然地上会留下清晰可见的宿营痕迹和人或骆驼的白骨，但是现在什么也没有。大伙已感觉得到无边无际的沙漠很快就要吞并这个荒凉的地区。
不过，他们已无法后退，只能前进。博士没有什么更好的要求，只希望来场风暴把他们带出这个地方。可是，天上却一丝云彩也没有！一天就要过去了，而“维多利亚号”只飞了不到30英里。
要是不缺水才不怕呢！ 然而事实是，他们总共只剩下3加仑水了！弗格森从中分出1加仑水来留作解渴用。华氏90度（50摄氏度）的高温天气实在叫人干渴难忍。剩下的2加仑水当然是给氢氧喷嘴供应气用的。这些水只能制造出480立方尺的气体。氢氧喷嘴每小时消耗约9立方尺气体。 这样算来，气球只能飞行54小时，不会再多了。整个计算十分精确，没有任何出入。
“54个小时的飞行时间！”博士对同伴们说，“我决定晚上不飞了，因为我怕天黑看不清，错过小河、泉水或水洼。这样的话，剩下的水够我们飞三天半。在这段时间里，我们必须不惜一切代价找到水。朋友们，我认为应该把这种严峻的形势预先告诉你们；我只留了1加仑水解渴，所以，我们从现在起就必须严格控制饮水。”
“我们省着喝好了。”猎人答道，“不过，现在还不到失望的时候呢。我们不是能维持3天嘛，你说呢？”
“是的，亲爱的肯尼迪。”
“那好！要懊悔，3天后再懊悔吧。这3天里，总能拿定主意。在此之前，我们加倍小心就是了。”
晚饭时，用水被严格控制，每人只分得一份，不过白酒倒可以放开喝。可是，对这种饮料得小心点，因为，它不仅不能使人清凉些，反而更叫人口渴。
吊篮落脚在一片辽阔的高原上过了一夜。 说是高原，可海拔高度几乎不到800尺。这种状况使博士有了几分希望。它使博士想到地理学家曾推测说，在非洲中部，有一个面积很大的水域；可是，即使这个湖存在，也要飞到那儿才行；而现在，天空中没有任何变化，连空气仿佛都凝住了。
单调枯燥的白昼和炽热的阳光取代了祥和的夜晚和美丽的星光。晨曦初露，天气已让人觉得如火焚烧。 早上5点，博士发出动身的信号，然而在铅沉的空气中，“维多利亚号”好半天没动地方。
博士本可以把气球升到上面的气层中，以避开这个炙热的地方；但是，那样做需要耗掉大量的水， 现在这是不可能的；因此，他只能把气球维持在距地面100尺的高度。一股微弱的气流使气球缓缓向西方飘去。
中饭时，大家吃了一点干肉和干肉饼。将近一个上午的时间，“维多利亚号”没有飞出几英里的路。
“我们无法飞得更快了。”博士说，“我们支配不了风，只能受风的左右。”
“唉，亲爱的弗格森，”猎人说，“有些情况下，推进器就是不能没有。这不，眼下就碰到了。”
“的确如此，肯尼迪，而且，还要假定推进器发动时不用水。因为，不然的话，情况没什么两样。再说，至今为止，人们还没有发明出气球上使用的推进器呢。眼下，气球飞行仍停留在蒸气机发明出来以前，船舶在水中航行时的状况。螺旋桨和涡轮叶片的发明花了人类6000年的时间，因此，我们有的等呢。”
“热得真可恶！”乔擦着额头上滚着的汗珠，恨恨地说。
“如果我们有水的话，这种热还能帮我们一些忙呢；因为，它能使气球里的氢气膨胀，而且氢氧喷嘴的火头必然会因此小好多。如果不是水快用光了，我们就用不着节省，这一点倒是真的。唉！可恶的野人，让我们损失了一箱珍贵的水！”
“弗格森，你后悔了吗？”
“当然不后悔了，肯尼迪。既然我们能使那位不幸的传教士逃脱可怕的死亡，还有什么可后悔的！ 可是，我们扔掉的那100斤水会对我们很有用的。有了它，我们又可以安安稳稳地飞上十二、三天了。那样，我们肯定能飞出这片沙漠。”
“我们的旅行起码完成一半了吧？”乔问。
“从距离上看，是走了一半；可是，从期限上看，如果风不帮忙的话，还不到一半呢。况且，现在风力完全减弱下来了。”
“加把劲儿，先生！”乔接着说，“我们不应抱怨。到目前为止，我们干得一直相当不错嘛。再说，不管干什么，叫我失望是不可能的。我给您说吧，我们一定能找到水。”不过，地势一点点低下去；高低起伏不定的金矿山逐渐在平原上消失，仅留下道道微微凸起的小陡坎，仿佛是精疲力竭的大自然在进行最后的挣扎；疏疏落落的荒草代替了东面生长的那种美丽树木；几块狭长的草地仍在与向它们进犯的流沙作斗争；然而，地上的草早已萎蔫；远处山颠滚落下的大块大块岩石摔碎成了有棱有角的小石块，散落地上；不久它们就会变成粗沙，最后化为细如粉芥的尘埃。
“乔，这就是非洲，和你过去想象的一个样。当初我对你说：‘走着瞧’是有道理的。”
“先生，其实，这才是最自然不过的！炎热，流沙！在这么一个地区，想找到其他什么东西，才是异想天开呢！”乔回答道。接着他又笑着补充说：“要知道，我本来就不相信您说的什么森林啦，草地啦。那不合情理嘛！否则的话，何必大老远地到这儿来看英国的原野！我现在才感觉是在非洲了，所以，我并不反对增加一点对它的感受。”
傍晚时分，博士发现，一个炎热的白天“维多利亚号”飞了不到20英里。太阳从轮廓分明的地平线上一落下，干燥炎热的黑暗立刻团团围住了气球。
第二天是5月1日，星期四。日子一天天过得枯燥乏味，令人发愁。每个早上都没什么两样，今天的中午和昨天的中午没什么区别。白天，永不枯竭的阳光总是火辣辣地直射大地；夜晚，分散的热被聚集在黑暗的洞穴里，留待下一个白天转交给下一个夜晚；本来就几乎觉察不到的细风，此时犹如行将就木的垂危者，气息若有若无，甚至能猜得出它何时断气。
弗格森博士没有气馁，他仍极力摆脱这种处境下的忧郁气氛，保持着久经困苦锻炼的那份沉着、冷静。他手持望远镜，仔细搜索着地平线上的每一个点。他发现最后的一些丘陵不知不觉间变成了平原，最后一株植物也从地面上消失了，眼前展开的是一望无际的大沙漠。
沉甸甸压在他心头上的责任感使他极为不安，尽管这种心情他丝毫没有流露出来。是他凭借友情和义务的力量把肯尼迪和乔两个人，这两位朋友，大老远地带到这儿来的。他这么做对吗？他是不是在走一条走不通的路呢？这次旅行中，他难道不该力图穿越那些不可能逾越的界限吗？难道上帝还要让人们把对这个荒凉大陆的认识再推迟几个世纪吗？
就像人们在灰心丧气时经常遇到的那样，这些想法抵御不住地在他头脑中反复盘旋。塞缪尔·弗格森不知不觉地信马由缰，胡思乱想起来。发觉他不应该做什么后，他自忖应该做些什么。扭过头往回返可不可能呢？上面的气流中，有没有一股气流能把他们带到不那么干旱的地区呢？对经过的地区，他有把握，但没走过的地区，他可就一点不知道了。在良心的驱使下，他决定开诚布公地和他的两位同伴谈谈。他给他们讲清了眼前面临的困境，向他们指出已经做了的事和剩下要做的事，迫不得已时，大伙可以回去，至少可以试着回去。到底应该怎么做，他需要听听他们两人的意见。
“我没有其他意见，主人的意见就是我的意见。”乔回答，“他能忍受的，我也能忍受，而且更能忍受。他去哪儿，我就去哪儿。”
“你呢，肯尼迪？”
“我嘛，亲爱的弗格森，我可不是那种容易悲观失望的人。没有人比我更清楚从事这项事业要冒的危险了。自从你一面对这些危险，我就早已不再多想。我的身心全交付给你了。在目前的情况下，我的意见是我们应该坚持到底，再说，我觉得回去的危险同样大，因此只有前进。你只管相信我们好了。”
“亲爱的朋友，谢谢你们了。”博士十分动情地说，“我一直依赖于你们的忠诚，可是，我还是需要听到这些鼓励的话。再一次谢谢诸位。”
于是3人真情地握住了手。
“听我说， ”弗格森又开了口，“根据我的测算，我们距离几内亚湾不到300英里。既然岸边有人居住，而且直到内陆很远都被人考察过，这块沙漠就不会是无边无际。如果有必要，我们就向几内亚湾岸边飞去。再说，不可能我们遇不上一块绿洲、水井，补充一下我们的储备水。可是，现在我们所缺少的，就是风。没有风，我们的气球只能一动不动地滞流在空中。”
“那我们就听天由命地等吧。”猎人说。
在这似乎总也过不完的一天里，每个人轮流搜索地面，但最终一无所获，任何能带来一线希望的东西也没出现。太阳西沉时，地面上最后一些丘陵消失了。夕阳的余辉拖着长长的火红尾巴，在这片辽阔的平原越拉越长。这就是沙漠。
这一天， 旅行家们穿行了不到15英里， 但却像头一天一样，氢氧喷嘴消耗了135立方尺气，解渴用掉了8品脱水中的2品脱水。
夜，静静地，太静了！博士一夜没有睡着觉。